


Must Love Kids

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nanny, Babies, Children, Developing Relationship, F/F, Kid Fic, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 07:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5197964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his last job ends with the family moving to Star City, Dick takes a job as a live-in nanny for Bruce Wayne's two children -- his young daughter Cassandra Cain-Wayne and his infant son Damian. </p><p>He's expecting things to be just like some of his other jobs, with a wealthy parent too busy to care for kids that are all but starved for affection. He's not expecting the Waynes' kind of family bond and he's certainly not expecting to fall head over heels with his charges' handsome father</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I kept giving up on this story, but I finally decided to suck it up and post what I have so far in an attempt to make myself write more. 
> 
> This was originally written for the DCU Bang 2014 but I dropped out super early on because I felt like I had bitten off more than I could chew. This story has (or will have) every thing that I've wanted for this ship: fluff, babies, misunderstandings – it's the stuff of romcoms and it will be glorious. 
> 
> And here's the prompt that started it all: Hot single dad hires broke babysitter

Dick effectively becomes unemployed on the second Saturday in June.

To be specific, Dick knows for sure that he's finished working for the Sawyer family the moment that he walks into the living room of Maggie Sawyer's home in the suburbs and finds the room filled with off duty cops and the biggest sheet cake that Dick has seen in his whole life.

Some of the cops are people that Dick recognizes from watching their kids during police emergencies. Most are pretty friendly even if Dick doesn’t recognize them, and as he pushes through the milling crowd of cops and their children, he spares a thought to think about how much he'll miss it. Something about the scene makes Dick's brain really and finally click onto the fact that he's going to need to get another job and soon.

Dick finds Jamie and her mother Maggie in the backyard playing games while Maggie's girlfriend Toby handles the barbecue on the deck. When he catches Maggie's eye, he smiles at his now former employer and then raises the bottle of wine in his hand high enough that she can see it through all of the people in the way.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Maggie says, smiling once Dick's in front of her and not dodging nine-year-olds. "Jamie's been talking my ear off all day about you. She's really going to miss you, Dick."

Maggie's smile softens and she reaches out to clasp Dick's shoulder in a firm grip.

"You worked miracles with my Jamie. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done, but if there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"Jamie's the best," Dick says honestly, blurting out the first thing that comes to his mind with Maggie looking at him like he's flipped her world on its axis for her. "I didn't do that much, Maggie. I swear, it was all in her. I only helped a little."

Dick glances over at where Jamie is busy playing a game of Simon Says with a group of neighborhood kids, and finds his chest tightening with emotion at the sight of his shy charge all excited to be playing with kids her age instead of computers.

"She's a good kid, and you're a good mom."

Jamie chooses that moment to break away from her game and come barreling towards them, shouting Dick's name at the top of her lungs the whole time. She leaps at Dick once she's close enough, climbing him like a tree before clinging to him in a hug that all but punches the air right out of his chest.

"Oof! Hey, sunshine," Dick says once he corrects his balance. "Are you excited to go to Star City with your mom?"

Jamie nods until her glasses wobble and threaten to fall off, beaming the whole time.

"I am," she says at the top of her lungs. "Our new house is so big, Dick. And we have a pool!"

"A pool," Dick repeats, sharing an amused look with Maggie over her daughter's head. "Well that's fancy. I hope you swim a few laps for me."

When Jamie nods her head and grins, Dick hugs her tightly and then shifts so he can set her down. He moves into a smooth crouch in front of her, kneeling until he's at the perfect height for a heart to heart with his favorite nine-year-old in the whole world.

"I'm going to miss you, Jamie," Dick says, his voice rough with emotion as he gets in one last ruffle of Jamie's baby fine strawberry blonde hair. He's been with Jamie for two years now, the longest that he's ever been with one family since starting the nannying gig. At this point, Jamie's like family to him and so is Maggie.

So when Dick speaks again, of course his voice comes out a bit choked up.

"Be good for your mom, okay?"

Jamie looks at Dick, blue eyes huge behind the thick lenses of her glasses. Her bottom lip wobbles and she flings her arms around Dick's neck, hugging him as she utters a quiet sob against the side of his face.

"I miss you already," Jamie confesses shakily. She manages a watery smile for Dick and then turns to look at her mom. "Can we give Dick his card now? And the gift too?"

"You don't have to get me anything," Dick says automatically.

Jamie's nose wrinkles with a frown. "Mom --"

Maggie laughs and then shakes her head. "Jamie won't let you leave without it, Dick," she says. "Just let us show you how thankful we are. Okay? It's not a big deal."

*

The first thing that Dick does after getting home from Maggie and Jamie's house at a very respectable 6 o'clock at night is call his best friend Barbara to video chat. She answers on the second ring, pale face popping up amidst a backdrop of brightly colored paintings.

"Hey, boy wonder," Barbara says with a sharp grin. "Did you cry all over Jamie today?"

Dick rolls his eyes.

"Oh shut it, Babs," Dick says with little heat in his voice. He affects a put-upon tone and pushes his bottom lip out in a pout. "Honestly, I don't even know why we're friends. You're so hurtful."

Barbara honest to god _giggles_.

"Save it for someone that hasn't known you forever," Barbara drawls, making a dismissive gesture with her right hand. She pauses to do something with her computer, attention caught for the moment. When she glances back at her camera, Dick can tell that she's completely focused on him.

"So," Barbara says, dragging out the word as though it has more than one syllable. "How was it?"

Dick shrugs.

"Sad, maybe? I'll miss working with Jamie, but we knew this would happen the second that Maggie put in for that transfer." Dick frowns and then holds up his right hand with his index finger extended. "Hold on a second, you have got to see what they gave me at the party."

Dick dives off his bed, managing to snag his bag from where he threw it on top of his dresser while only knocking down a few things. And he doesn't bother picking them up. After all, they're just DVDs. They'll keep. He pulls a flat rectangular box out of his bag and then tries to get back on his bed without knocking his laptop down or tipping over the mug of tea resting on the bedpost nearby.

"Look," Dick says, opening the box and tilting it towards the camera so that Barbara can see the box's contents -- a blue and black-striped tie and two different envelopes. "Jamie wrote me a letter and Maggie… Maggie gave me a huge freakin' bonus in this week's check. Geez, Babs, I think I can put off looking for a new job for a little bit."

"Well don't put it off for too long," Barbara says, wagging her finger at Dick. "You've already got five or six new emails through the service you use and a bunch of parents were asking about you from the last time you came and did storytime at the library. That's a lot of money you could be missing out on."

Dick snorts. "When are you going to stop going through my emails?"

"Maybe when you start checking them," Barbara retorts without missing a beat. "Seriously, Dick. There's some good stuff here."

"Good stuff?"

"Well," Barbara says, shrugging, "They're not too weird. Off the bat, there's two that I think you'd do well at. One's in Gotham, a live-in out by the boarding school. The other's in Bludhaven out by the suburbs. You'd have to get your own place near there and drive back and forth, but live-outs usually pay more."

"And the others?"

Barbara shudders and then shakes her head.

"There were two emails I'm happy you didn't get a chance to check and I'm still not done looking at the other two." Her attention wanders back to something on her screen. "We can look at them tomorrow," she says, almost absently. "Alysia's making brunch when we get back from the appointment with my therapist."

"Brunch?" Dick echoes.

"Yeah, brunch," Barbara says. "Chocolate chip pancakes and whatever fancy new recipe Lys has picked up from the internet. Oh! And mimosas. You can't do brunch without drinking mimosas." She smiles at Dick. "Wear your new tie tomorrow, okay?"

Dick huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. "You want me to get dressed up for Sunday brunch?"

Barbara's smile gets even wider. "My brunch, my rules."

*

Alysia answers the door when Dick knocks, looking him over with an appraising eye.

"You look nice, Dick," Alysia says. "You should wear that shirt on your next interview." Turning on her heel, Alysia heads in the direction of the kitchen, high heels thudding on the carpet of the entryway before turning in to sharp-edged clicks on tile. "Go sit with Bee in the living room. You can talk about work while I finish up."

Dick finds Barbara sitting in her favorite armchair with a bright purple afghan spread over her knees that matches the sparkling headband holding her hair back from her face.

With a mimosa in one hand, her wireless mouse in the other, and a wireless keyboard splayed across her lap she looks good and comfortable. Dick pauses to press a kiss to her cheek and wind up kissed in return before taking a seat on the couch cattycorner to Barbara's armchair.

"How was PT?" Dick asks.

Barbara makes a face.

"That fun, huh?"

"The new person that the insurance company sent over is a pain," Barbara mutters. "Despite the fact that Alysia and I do the exercises together every day, he had the nerve to insinuate that I'm in worse shape now than I was back when I transferred to this center. Today was the third time this week he said something like that."

Dick's breath blows out in a sigh. "Didn't he read your files? I thought your last therapist said you were doing well."

"I was," Barbara says. "I mean, I _am_. We're going in on Monday to see what we can do about it."

"Anything I can do to help?"

Barbara shakes her head. "Nah. Lys and I've got it down. Besides, you're going to be busy going on at least one interview. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

Alysia chooses that moment to come in with a tray of devilled eggs and a mimosa for Dick. She kisses Barbara's cheek and then makes herself comfortable on the thickly padded arm of her girlfriend's chair.

"We're doing Vietnamese takeout after that since I have the night off then," Alysia says. "If you want to come by and celebrate after your interview, I'll even break out the good beer and air out the guest room for you." She reaches up and tucks several strands of short black hair behind one ear. "It'll be fun, like one last party before you go back into the workforce."

Dick laughs. "At least let me get through with brunch before you two start planning my life for me."

Nudging Dick with the toe of her peep-toe heels, Alysia shares a smug smile with Barbara before turning it Dick's way.

"Fine," Alysia drawls, her dark brown eyes twinkling with amusement. "Hurry up and eat then so we can go back to running everything."

After brunch and two more mimosas, Barbara pulls up the information on the families looking to retain Dick's services as a nanny. They go through the first two families quickly enough, ending with Dick turning them both down because of mitigating factors. One of the families has a history of not paying nannies on time (if at all) and the other wants an all-in-one housekeeper and nanny.

Dick barely remembers to clean up after himself.

There's no way that he'd ever take a job cleaning up after an entire family.

Finally, they get to the two best bets.

"So, Amy Rohrbach is a cop in Bludhaven. She and her husband both work nights and weekends and they want someone to help take care of their three kids." Barbara uses her laser pointer to trace wide circles around an image of the couple from a facebook page. She flips through their respective pages, pointing out one detail or another as she details their wants and needs. "You'd have to move out to Bludhaven if you took the job though..."

Dick shrugs. "It's a live-out though. For the amount of money I'd be getting paid, I wouldn't mind moving out there."

"Yeah," Barbara mutters, green eyes shuttered, "But I would."

Dick has known Barbara his whole life it seems, from when her dad was working the security detail after Dick's second national title got him a little more attention than he wanted when he was a child. She's his best friend, the one constant in his life from as far back as he can remember, and he knows has the same place of honor in her heart.

So he gets it.

"You know I could always take the train up here on the weekends," Dick points out. "We could still do brunch and Skype at night." He tries to muster up a smile for his best friend. "If I took this job, you'd hardly even know I was gone."

Barbara's bottom lip pushes out in a mulish pout, but before she can say what's on her mind, Alysia interjects.

"Show him the next one, love," Alysia says, her smile tender and soft as she touches the back of one of Barbara's long-fingered hands. "You guys can talk about this stuff after that."

Dick doesn't need an introduction to the next person on the screen. He recognizes the man on Barbara's screen from the many billboards he and his company have plastered all over the city.

"What on earth is Bruce Wayne doing looking for a nanny?" Dick breathes, eyes wide.

"He's looking for someone to watch his kids, duh."

The glare that Dick shoots Alysia's way only makes her giggle and clutch at Barbara's arm.

"You have to call him," Barbara says. "If you have the chance to work for Bruce Wayne and you don't take it, I think I'd have to stop being your friend."

Dick frowns. "I didn't know you were a Bruce Wayne fan."

"She is," Barbara says, jerking her thumb towards Alysia. "I'm not. Well... maybe fan's not the right word--"

Alysia laughs quietly.

"It's not," she tells Dick, smiling slightly. "But I've been trying to get an interview with him about his humanitarian projects for months now and his secretary keeps putting me off. But if you're working for him... maybe you could put in a good word for me."

Dick lasts maybe half a minute before cracking up at Alysia's words. He snickers into the dregs of his last mimosa and then sets it down atop a wooden coaster.

"I see how it is, Lys," he says teasingly as his two friends giggle in response. "You only want me for my connections."

*

Dick calls the contact number for the Wayne family from the guest bedroom in Alysia and Barbara's apartment. The phone rings several times without an answer. After the fifth time that it rings with no answer, Dick's thumb moves to hover over the end call button on his phone.

Before he can actually press it though, someone comes on the other end.

"Wayne Manor, Alfred Pennyworth speaking. How may I help you?"

The voice on the other end has a crisp British accent, the sort of voice that Dick automatically connects with watching Disney movies with his charges and BBC marathons with Barbara.

For the first time in Dick's life, it seems, he falters.

"Um--" He pauses, feeling his face warm up with a ridiculous flush. "I-I'm calling about the nanny position. If it's still open, I mean." He realizes at the last moment that he didn't even give his name. "I-I'm Richard Grayson, by the way. From the agency."

Mr. Pennyworth utters a low, hmm-ing sound into the phone and then Dick hears the sound of crinkling papers.

"Ah, Mr. Grayson," he says after a moment that feels as though it stretches out for an eternity. "I have your resume and all of your paperwork in front of me right now. My employer has seen it as well and has asked me to set up an interview with you at your earliest convenience. When would be good for you?"

Dick has to fight against the urge to tell the man on the phone that he can be there in twenty minutes if he borrows his friends' car and speeds.

He settles for saying, "What about Monday morning?" instead.

"Monday around 8 o'clock in the morning would be perfect," Mr. Pennyworth says. "We could get everything out of the way and have you meet the children at breakfast if Master Wayne approves. Do you know where the manor is?"

Dick nods before remembering that he's on the phone and no one can see him do that.

"Yeah," he says, half a second later. "Out by the hills, right? I can get there, no sweat."

"Excellent," Mr. Pennyworth says. "We'll see you Monday morning."

*

"Did you get the interview?" Barbara asks once Dick walks back into the living room.

Dick considers lying just to mess with her, but he can't keep a straight face when all he wants to do is celebrate.

"I got the interview," Dick confirms, beaming brightly at the thought. "Monday morning, first thing."

He comes over to the armchair where Barbara is sitting with Alysia halfway in her lap and hugs both women tightly; smacking quick kisses across their cheeks until they laugh. Dick pulls back and then pushes his hands through his overly long black hair, frowning as a thought hits him.

"What the hell am I going to wear?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick meets some of the residents of stately Wayne Manor.

Monday morning comes, bringing with it all the fear of an impending interview.

Like with any job he's applied for, getting a good nanny position all starts with how good Dick look in the interview process and how well he can answer whatever questions that potential employers feel like slinging his way.

_Have you worked in childcare before?_

_How many languages can you speak?_

_What did you go to college for?_

_You **did** go to college, didn't you?_

By now though, Dick's got his answers down pat.

Seriously, Dick old hand at saying (and doing) exactly what needs to be done to get some of the way through the interview process. He's practiced at the right ratio of sternness to whatever it means when you're willing to roll around on the floor with a kid while pretending to be a tiger. He's even managed to get a grasp on looking interested as the rich and famous parents of Gotham's millionaire babies rattle off every single financial achievement that they've managed in the past ten years.

But nothing that Dick has practiced for can prepare him for this.

Dick pulls up in front of stately Wayne Manor at a quarter to eight in the morning.

His boxy little Kia looks out of place in front of the big mansion, the lime green paint at odds with the Bentley that Dick sees getting a thorough washing in front of the manor's garage. Dick flicks on his alarm (despite the fact that no one would want to steal his crappy car with a Bentley right there for the taking) and trots toward the front door, hoping that showing up early won't count too much against him.

Before Dick can knock more than once, the front door swings open and a tiny woman with dark brown skin and braided purple hair bounces out to greet him.

"You must be Mr. Grayson," she says with a smile, reaching out to shake Dick's hand. Her grip is firm and strong enough to make Dick feel like wincing when she lets go of his hand and a familiar sensation of pins and needles rushes in to make his fingers tingle. "I'm Ayana Bachaan, one of the regular maids here. Alfred wants me to show you to the kitchen since he can't do the butler thing right now."

"We're having our interview in the kitchen?" Dick asks, a little stunned by the force of Ayana's cheerfulness so early in the morning.

Ayana laughs and steps aside so that Dick can come into the manor proper.

"He's the one cooking today, so I figure he's just trying to multitask before the munchkins get up. If he asks you to shuck peas or peel potatoes, just go for it."

The walk from the manor's front door to the massive kitchen in the back is both ridiculously long and somehow not long enough.

In ten minutes, Dick sees more expensive art and beautiful furniture than he's seen in two years of taking Jamie Sawyer to museums across the upper east coast. The house is dark, but well maintained. Down one hallway, Dick even sees a group of people working on opening up a bank of windows that overlooks the manor's sprawling grounds and a windswept cliff at the far end of the ground.

"Do you like working here?" Dick asks Ayana, pausing just outside the kitchen's massive double doors. When he glances through the window cut into the door, he spies a tall, thin man busily kneading dough. Ah. That must be Alfred Pennyworth.

Ayana grins, mirth reaching all the way up to her dark brown eyes.

"Of course I do," Ayana replies easily. "Have you seen this place? Sure, cleaning it isn't that fun and it takes forever, but it's huge and staff basically gets a whole floor to ourselves if we live here. That's pretty awesome right?"

She turns and eyes Dick up and down, judging him with an indecipherable look on her face. "But Damian's a fast little kid so chances are that you're in the nursery or next to it until we can get more baby-proofing done or convince Cass -- that's his sister -- to move back into the room with him."

She's speaking like Dick already has the job.

"Excuse me --"

Ayana waves away Dick's attempts to interrupt her, pushing open the kitchen doors and then pushing Dick in before her.

"Here's your nanny, Alfred," Ayana calls out, all but _cackling_ when both Dick and Alfred side-eye her.

Alfred shakes his head. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Fine. Fine," she says with a noted whine in her voice that is belied by the twinkle in her dark eyes. "I can take a hint. If you need me, I'll be dusting the study. Again."

"You go do that, Miss Bachaan."

Ayana leaves as loudly as she entered, leaving Dick alone with Alfred and a veritable mountain full of dough.

"What are you making, sir?" Dick asks, coming closer to where Mr. Pennyworth stands wrapping discs of dough in plastic wrap.

"Our cook has Mondays off," the older man says, answering Dick's question without looking up from his task. "I'm making lunch for the children and staff since we have outside work coming in for the day. And please, Richard, call me Alfred." Dick has been getting kindly grandfather vibes from the get go, but it amps up at that.

Dick nods. "Okay, sir --um, Alfred," he says, correcting himself quickly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Apparently, that _is_ the right thing to say.

Alfred gets Dick settled at the counter with a pile of carrots and a peeler in front of him. "You can peel these while I get started on breakfast." He pauses. "Thank you."

Shrugging, Dick offers Alfred a smile. "No problem. I like to help."

Most of the way through peeling his pile of carrots, Dick gets the feeling that someone is watching him. He looks up, fully expecting to see Alfred waiting for him to start the interview, but instead comes face to face with two little children.

The older child, a little girl with a shaggy black pageboy haircut and faint frown on her face, doesn't quite look at him, but he can tell that she's paying attention to everything that he does. Her sibling, a chubby-cheeked baby with dusky brown skin and bright blue eyes, stares openly at Dick in marked contrast to his sibling.

The girl has to be Cass and the staring baby must be Damian.

Dick dusts the carrot peels off his hands and smiles at the two children in front of him.

"Hey guys," he says softly. "What's up?"

Cass dips her head in a nod and kind of wiggles the fingers of her free hand at him in a small wave. Her brother, Damian, pushes against her chest, gaze intent on Dick and the carrot peeler resting in front of him.

"Mine," the baby cries out, big blue eyes fixed on the sharp metal implement. One chubby brown arm stretches out, fingers opening and closing as he struggles to get away from his sister. "Wan' mine!"

"Shh," Cass hisses, bouncing Damian on her hip. She frowns slightly, mouth twisting up as she looks at Dick and then glances away quickly. She tucks her baby brother's head in against her shoulder and steps back, looking around for Alfred and then sighing with audible and visible relief when he approaches them.

Alfred greets both children with a smile and then takes Damian from his sister.

"Good morning," Cass says, her voice low.

"Mo'ning," Damian calls out, smacking one chubby palm against Alfred's cheek before pointing at Dick with all of the tact a kid that age has. "Who dat?"

Cass glances at Dick and then looks back at Alfred.

"Yeah," she whispers, "Who's he?"

Alfred chuckles quietly. "That's Dick," he says. "He's here because he wants to be your new caretaker. Do you want to meet him?"

Predictably, Cass starts shaking her head the instant that Alfred stops speaking, ducking behind the butler as though she's trying to disappear from sight.

"No," Cass blurts out before pausing briefly, her struggle to choose the perfect words obvious even to Dick's eyes. "I don't like him. I want to go to work with daddy."

Those are the most words that Dick has heard from Cass this whole time, and, while they don’t bode well for Dick getting the job, he's happy that both of the Wayne kids seem okay with expressing themselves.

Alfred remains patient. He settles Damian more firmly on his hip and then crouches slightly so that he can get on Cass's level.

"I know you like going to work with your father," he says. "But he wants you to have fun and be safe. His office is no place for children. You know that. You two could get hurt."

"You mean like when Damian ate the paper clip?" Cass asks, the dark smudges of her eyebrows drawing together as she frowns at Alfred. "He was in the hospital all day."

Dick wisely keeps his thoughts to himself, but he resolves to keep a very close eye on Damian if he gets the job.

Alfred nods and then pats the top of Cass's head. "Exactly. And we don't want a repeat at that." He pauses. "Now, don't you want to stay home and play with Damian and have Tim over for playdates?"

"But they're babies," Cass breathes, the affront in her voice so familiar to Dick that he has to hide his smile behind one hand.

"Well... yes," Alfred says after a second, "but I thought you liked playing with them."

Cass gives a half-hearted shrug before changing the subject and addressing Dick directly. Well, as directly as can be when she doesn't look at him at first. "So you’re going to take care of us now?"

Dick blinks at the weight of her gaze the one time that she glances up at him.

"Well," he hedges. "I sure hope so. You and your brother seem nice." He musters a sunny smile for the girl in front of him and the baby currently resuming his attempts to get at Dick. "Even if Damian did eat a paperclip."

That breaks the ice.

Cass giggles and ducks her head, using her hair to hide her face as she smiles.

"Damian's weird," she confesses in an undertone. "He likes to chew on my dolls and he pees on Tim all the time." Cass glances at her brother and then heaves herself halfway over the table so she can speak to Dick in a conspiratorial whisper. "I think he does it on purpose. He doesn't like Tim all the time."

"Who's Tim?" Dick asks, already charmed by Cass's mannerisms. "Your best friend?"

Cass shrugs.

"I guess," she says with little enthusiasm in her voice. "I think so..." Her face scrunches up as she thinks. "He's short and he says weird things sometimes, but I like him. He's okay."

Not a ringing endorsement by any means, but Dick gets it.

He grins.

"I have a best friend too," Dick says, thinking about Barbara as the smile on his face widens. "She's pretty cool. I can show you some pictures of her on my phone once I'm done here."

Cass's eyes widen and she bounces atop the counter. "Oh!"

Alfred uses that break in the conversation to sweep in, pressing Damian into Dick's hands as he sweeps the counter clear of carrots and puts the peeler firmly out of Damian's reach.

"Breakfast first, Cassandra," Alfred chides gently, voice stern. He turns back to Dick. "Now, how do you like your eggs?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick meets Bruce and gets a job all in a matter of minutes. Then Barbara and Alysia bring out the big guns and ask Dick some tough questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. I took Thanksgiving off and then didn't remember that I was to post the next chapter until I was already offline. Hope you're all still reading and enjoying! 
> 
> Thanks for the nice comments!!

Bruce Wayne walks into the kitchen halfway through breakfast. He comes in at a choice moment, right when Damian decides that he doesn't want to eat his cereal anymore and dives for Dick's plate of scrambled eggs. What an impression that must make, Dick thinks, staring up at Bruce Wayne as the man's baby smears fluffy scrambled eggs and cold oatmeal all over the both of them.

"Um --"

Dick's not sure what to expect. The last time he was even the slightest bit disheveled near a parent with even a smidge of Bruce's _everything_ , it cost him a pretty decent temp gig. Covered in breakfast and holding onto the man's kid before they've even been introduced?

Well--

Dick's expecting to be thrown on out on his ear in sixty seconds or less.

"I can explain," Dick says, already prepared to grovel, but Bruce shakes his head.

"It's fine," Bruce says. He smiles briefly, coming up close so that he can ruffle the top of Damian's head without actually coming close enough for the baby to cover him in eggs as well. "Damian always makes breakfast as messy as possible. You must be the new nanny. I'm Bruce."

"I know," Dick blurts out before quickly backpedaling. "I mean -- I'm Dick. Well... it's really Richard, but please call me Dick." Oh god. Dick can feel his face burning as he looks up at Bruce's face. "And I'm not the new nanny -- am I?"

Beyond Cass and Alfred asking him the occasional question while breakfast was underway, Dick hasn't even had an actual interview yet. He hasn't had to jump through any of the usual hoops for a nanny position.

"I mean... If you say I'm the new nanny, then that's what I am."

Could he sound any more like a complete loser?

But then Bruce smiles, model-perfect teeth flashing in the bright lights in the kitchen, and pumps Dick's hand in a firm handshake. His hand is big and warm, smooth and soft in a way that Dick's still callused hands are not. The contact sends a spark that arcs between them like lightning for all that it seems to be entirely in Dick's head.

"It's good to meet you, Dick." Bruce glances around the kitchen and then, when his gaze lands on Alfred's stern face, smiles a little wider. "And someone seems to have made the decision for me, I believe. If Alfred has you in here helping Damian with breakfast, then you're our new nanny."

Wait --

Dick stares up at Bruce.

"I have the job?"

"You have the job," Bruce confirms with a slight nod of his head. "After breakfast, Alfred will bring you everything that you need to sign and I'll be happy to speak to you about anything you have questions about. How soon can you start?"

Dick pauses to think about it. "Well... I'll have to talk to my landlord and move my stuff out. I'd say maybe... I could start tomorrow, bring some of my stuff over, but move in officially this weekend? I don't mind driving back and forth for a few days."

Bruce looks pensive and for a moment, Dick is so sure that he'll say no to Dick's plan.

"That could work," Bruce says. He pushes a hand into one of his pockets and then pulls it back out with a wallet in his palm. Flipping through the wallet, Bruce pulls out a crisp business card and hands it to Dick who takes it and then quickly has to push the card out of Damian's reach. "Call this number later today. We use this service for storing old furniture and things like that. You can use one of our units while you work with us and they have movers that'll come in and box everything up for you."

Dick nods. "Okay -- um, I'll do that. Sure."

After the fact, Dick remembers his manners. "Um…Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." Bruce waves away Dick's gratitude as though he's used to hearing it. He pauses next to his daughter, hand resting lightly atop her head as he watches the little girl mess around with Dick's phone with one hand and fiddle with her spoon with the other. The look on his face softens when Cass looks up at him a moment later and beams at him.

"You okay, kiddo?"

Cass nods at her father. "I'm great."

"And you're okay with staying home with Dick from now on?"

Cass doesn't hesitate. "He's nice. He can stay with us."

As far as recommendations go, it's a pretty good one. Even though Dick does suspect that it depended heavily on letting Cass play with his phone and her breakfast.

*

By the time Dick manages to tear himself away from the Wayne family and that cavernous manor, it's well into the afternoon.

Just the tour of the house alone took up a huge chunk of Dick's day, especially with the children taking detours to show him interesting things (or, in Damian's case, to attempt to touch things that he shouldn't be touching).

Dick calls Barbara in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic on his way down to Cathedral Square.

"Did you get the job or do Lys and I need to get you drunk tonight?"

"I got the job, but I wouldn't say no to free booze," Dick says, laughing as he eases up on the gas and lets his little Kia roll forward during a breakthrough in the traffic. "I'll be home in like... twenty minutes, I think. I'll walk over after I get changed."

Barbara hums. "Rough day?"

"Bruce Wayne's baby boy decided that his food looks better on me than in his tummy," Dick murmurs, smiling at the fond memory. "Every single thing that little guy ate, he decided to test it out on me first. I'm a mess."

"When aren't you," Barbara teases gently. "But in all seriousness: I'm happy for you. Is there anything special you want to do tonight?"

"Vietnamese takeout and bootleg Booster Gold movies?"

"Sounds like a plan," Barbara says. "I'll order for you so it'll get here when you do. Now get off the phone and pay attention to the road."

"I'm doing fine, B." Dick blows a raspberry into his phone's mouthpiece before hanging up on Barbara's loud laughter.

Not even a second later, the car behind him honks when Dick hesitates a little too long where there's a clear opening. Of course it does.

*

After Dick damn near talks his friends' ears off about Bruce Wayne's adorable children, the conversation takes a predictable (and rapidly uncomfortable) tone.

"So what's Bruce Wayne like anyway?" Alysia asks, eyeing her phone as though she wants to reach for it and give Dick an impromptu interview.

Dick manages a one-armed shrug as he tries not to spill his bowl of pho all over the place. "Off the record --"

Alysia frowns but then nods hard enough to her dangling purple earrings to swaying. "Of course!"

"I wasn't expecting him to be so good with his kids," Dick confesses in a rush. "I was expecting someone who'd well... not get down on the floor to play with their kids."

Bruce had worked from home all day, leaving his office regularly to see how Dick was getting on with his kids, Alfred, and the ever present Ayana. At one point, Bruce had even gotten down on the floor of the nursery to play farm with Damian. The sight of Bruce pretending to be a cow as Damian squealed and clapped his tiny hands is one that Dick won't soon forget.

"Remember that one lady I worked for? You know, the one who had a summer home here for god knows what reason?"

Barbara's nose wrinkles with a frown. "You mean the one that made you keep her kid in the pool house all summer?"

Dick frowns too at the memory of that poor little girl and the mother that didn't want to be bothered with her at all. Not one of his favorite assignments on any level.

"Yeah," he mutters, "I was expecting someone like that. But he's a good guy. Even if I'm pretty sure he had his butler run a background check on me the second they started considering me for the position. That's the only reason I can think of why I got the job so fast."

"Eh," Barbara says almost dismissively. "It's what rich people do. They want to make sure that you're perfect for their precious bundle of joy."

Dick rolls his eyes and takes a swig of his beer. "Yeah, yeah. It's still weird though."

Things lapse into a blissful sort of silence for a while, Dick slurping at his noodles while Alysia and Barbara cuddle on the couch. Aside from the occasional barb directed at their bootleg DVD of the day -- the newest film in the Booster Gold franchise -- the apartment is quiet. It's nice.

It's --

The calm before a storm.

"Do you think he's cute?" Alysia asks out of the blue, pausing the movie right when the blond hero on screen takes one in the face for the planet. "Your boss, I mean, not the actor."

Dick feels his face heat up.

"He's not ugly," he says and ain't that the truth... The one thing that Bruce isn't is ugly. The guy's so conventionally attractive that Dick is honestly surprised that there aren't any modeling photos in the man's background.

But Dick won't admit that.

Barbara tilts her head bit, squinting at Dick from behind the lenses of her glasses as though trying to see through him.

"Oh! You do. You do think he's cute. Oh, Dick." She says his name with a sigh on her lips, looking at Dick as though she feels sorry for him. "That's such a bad idea. In fact, it's the worst idea you've had in a long time."

"Excuse me?" Dick couldn't manage to sound more offended if he tried.

"I know you, Dick," Barbara says, eyes wide in the dark. "Remember what happened with the Wilsons? You thought Slade was cute and look what happened there; I don't know how you got out of _that_ mess with good references from him. "

The reminder of Dick's first real relationship definitely stings. Dick was young and naïve. Slade was old and kind of a bear. While it wasn't all bad, and Dick still has really good memories of their time together, it ended just as badly as a nanny-employer relationship could end. And it's not his only relationship like that.

Dick shudders, frowning both at the thought and at Barbara's pointed reminder of his abysmal choice in men.

Alysia doesn't seem to know what to think. She frowns, glancing back and forth between her girlfriend and Dick with worry wrinkling her forehead.

"Bee," she says softly, "That's not fair. Thinking your boss is cute -- or heck, even dating them -- isn't a big deal. After all, isn't that how we met?"

Barbara frowns at her girlfriend. "Lys!"

But Alysia ignores Barbara in favor of leaning over and squeezing Dick's knee with one strong hand.

"I'm not drunk enough for this, B," Dick says, trying to diffuse the tension before either one of his friends says something that they can't fix over cheap beer and takeout. "But Bruce isn't Slade or Roy or any of the other people I've dated when I shouldn't have. I don't like Bruce that way."

Not at all.

Even if he is good looking, and a great dad, and--

No.

Hell no.

Dick refuses to let his mind go that route.

But Barbara doesn't let the matter go.

"Not yet," Barbara says. From anyone else, it would be a snide aside. From her? Dick can tell that she's really worried about him. It shows in the way that she clutches at Alysia's hands and frowns. "But you love his kids already and you think he's cute. It took you like a week before you came here with the same stories about Jamie. I'm just --"

Dick finishes Barbara's sentence for her.

"Worried. Yeah, I get it. I mean… I know my dating history _sucks_ , but honestly, even if I did like him like that --" Here, Dick pauses when he realizes how he sounds like he's back in high school with that kind of talk "-- Bruce doesn't seem like the kind of guy to do anything that unprofessional."

"You sound sure about that," Alysia says, voice quiet as she cards her fingers through Barbara's messy hair. "Good. I know you, whatever happens, I know you'll make good choices."

Dick snickers into his pho. "Thanks, Mom."

*

At first, it's hard to develop a routine that works for them.

Those first few days are hell.

Actual hell, Dick thinks when he actually starts hearing Damian's wailing cries in his sleep for pete's sake. Despite the fact that both Cass and Damian like Dick, they're kids and kids definitely don't like changes to their established routines.

And Dick is all about changes.

Even before he actually moves in, Dick works out a schedule for the kids. As huge as the manor as and as many toys and cable channels as the kids have access too, Dick is a fan of the great big outdoors. The best thing about being a nanny (especially one with access to a special fund courtesy of his charge's exceptionally wealthy father) is finding things to do with the kids.

Staying inside gets old. So does playing with the same toys day in and day out.

So Dick plans.

And plans --

And eventually, Dick comes up with a schedule that promises to both entertain and challenge his new charges. It takes him several weeks of complaining, crying, and fussing at Barbara over Skype when both kids are asleep and Dick can escape to the little used study down the hall, but eventually Dick gets it together. Eventually, when he comes over to spend the weekend in Barbara and Alysia's guest room, he has something to talk about aside from how his charges make him feel like climbing up a wall.

After a few weeks, he starts to figure out what works for his new charges and what doesn't work.

Thanks to Ayana's near-encyclopedic knowledge of Gotham City's ins and outs, Dick manages to set up daily activities for Cass and Damian that keep them active and, more importantly, too tired to fuss when it's time for bed.

They go on twice-weekly field trips to different parts of the city that seem mundane to his adult eyes, but are absolutely fascinating to a little kid. They have picnics out on the lawn and play hide and seek in the manor's few childproofed rooms. Twice a week they go to the community center so Damian can socialize and Cass can get help with her reading. He even has an easy-to-manage meal schedule set up for breakfast and lunch and permission to use the kitchen whenever the chef's not there.

So yeah, they get their routine even if it takes him the better part of his first month working with the family.

And not a moment too soon...

 

%MCEPASTEBIN%


	4. Chapter 4

A month and a half into Dick's tenure with the Wayne family, he faces his biggest challenge yet: an outing with the whole family, Bruce Wayne included.

"You want all of us to go out?" Dick asks, his eyes getting wide. "Tomorrow?"

To say that Dick is stunned when Bruce brings up the subject over a surprisingly quiet Friday night dinner when the kids are both tucked into bed is an understatement.

In a month and a half of working for the man, Bruce has been incredibly respectful about not asking Dick anything about working or anything during his free time except for the occasional, actual emergency. Asking Dick if he wants to do something with the family on a Saturday is just... new.

Dick doesn't know how he feels about it and he realizes, half a second too late, how that indecision must appear on his face.

Bruce frowns and he sets his fork down atop his plate with a clatter. "If you don't want to--"

"Oh, no," Dick says, more than a little breathless in the face of the dark frown on his employer's handsome face. "I'll come, I mean... I want to go. What do you have planned?"

"I was thinking about a family outing," Bruce says, voice quiet.

Bruce returns his fingers to his fork, fiddling with the stainless steel implement as he eyes Dick with trepidation obvious in his cobalt blue gaze. "How about we take an early trip to the zoo, followed by lunch? If you don't mind a third child along, Cass's friend Tim came home from summer camp this morning and he'd probably love to come."

"Sure," Dick says brightly, curiosity piqued at the mention of Cass's elusive best friend. Despite weeks of working with Cass and hearing her talk about her classmate and neighbor, he has yet to actually meet the little guy. "Let's do that. We can pack sandwiches for the kids and have a picnic in the park when we're done at the zoo. It'll be fun!"

Bruce's wide mouth shapes up into a content smile. "Excellent," he says, "I'll let the Drakes know to bring Tim over in the morning."

Dick smiles back at Bruce for a bit longer than is necessary to be polite, basking in the warmth of the other man's approval until Ayana appears with their second course and shocks Dick right out of his gaping.

"That's good," Dick says after a second passes with him trying to ignore Ayana's knowing looks. "And I'll speak to the cook about lunch."

*

To Dick, who spent his Friday night chatting with Barbara online and drinking watered down homemade cocktails well into the early hours, Saturday morning comes too soon for his tastes. The sun shines brightly into Dick's room, right onto his face thanks to him forgetting to untie the curtains when he came upstairs after dinner.

"Geez," Dick hisses, one hand flying up as if to try and block the rays of sun shining directly into his face.  "It's too freaking early for this."

Dick curls his fingers in against his sheets, sighing at the thought of getting up so early, and then glances at the digital clock on his nightstand in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, he can get a few more minutes of sleep before he needs to get ready for what will be a busy day. When he sees the time emblazoned in glowing green letters on the front of the clock, he can't hold back on a sigh.

Thirty minutes. He's up a good thirty minutes before he has to be awake, thirty minutes before his alarm is set to ring. Dick takes another long look at his alarm clock and then he decides that he hates the world a little. Just a little.

But he gets up anyway, making it through his morning routine with a minimum of swearing when the water in the shower of the bathroom connected to his room takes a little too long to warm up. By the time he gets back into his bedroom and tries to brush his hair into some semblance of order, he can hear faint burbling noises coming from the baby monitor sitting next to his clock, a sure sign that Damian is awake in the nursery across the hall.

Dick's hair can wait.

Damian is clever enough and determined enough, that a few minutes left alone in his crib might end in chaos. And it's way too early to deal with Damian eating everything he can get his chubby little hands on.

"Di!"

Damian shouts at the top of his little lungs the moment that Dick enters the nursery, clapping his hands together until he loses his balance, wobbles, and falls flat on his diapered butt in the crib. Dick swoops in and snatches Damian up from his crib, raising him high above his head so that he can sneak a sniff of his charge's bottom.

When he only notices the faintest of sour smells amidst baby powder and the lingering scent of fabric softener on Damian's all in one pajamas, Dick grins and bounces Damian in his arms. When Damian squeals at that and reaches out for Dick with fingers that are sticky with drool, Dick lets the baby pat his face.

"I'm so proud of you, Damian," Dick croons, smiling at his charge's smiling face. "You went all night without having a messy accident!"

Damian claps his hands again; patting Dick's cheeks with his sticky little fingers as he giggles. "Good?"

Charmed to pieces by Damian, Dick grins and hugs the baby close. "Very good. You're the best, little dude. Now, come on: it's time for your bath."

"Bath! Bath!"

If there's one thing that Damian loves more than making a mess and eating every single thing he can get his little hands on, it's bath time.

Damian squeals with delight, dark eyes crinkling up at the corners as he wiggles against Dick's grip. This lasts all the way through bath time, through washing Damian's hair and then rinsing him off underneath the shower as Damian giggles and splashes about. By the end of it, when Damian is mostly dry and bundled up in a fluffy yellow towel over his pull-ups, they're both laughing hard and smiling at one another.

"You are too cute," Dick croons, tapping his index finger against the turned up tip of Damian's nose to punctuate every single word. "Now, what do you want to wear: your Elmo shirt or the Grover one?"

Damian's nose wrinkles with indecision, but then his features soften and he beams wide enough to show off a handful of tiny white teeth.

"Gwover!"

Dick ruffles Damian's still damp hair. "Good choice, little man!"

He gets Damian dried and dressed in a flash and then heads for the door, pausing only to snatch up Damian's little bumblebee harness before dumping it in the baby bag and opening the door. He's so busy rushing, that he promptly runs into Cass in the hallway.

Cass falls down with a little "Oof" but then bounces up with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm okay," she says with a faint smile.

Damian squirms in an attempt to get down and check on his sister, screaming, "Cass fall! Cass fall!" at the top of his lungs while Dick struggles to hold on to him.

"Hold on, Damian," Dick says, trying not to drop the baby in his arms. "Cass is okay. She's fine. See?" He shifts Damian about in his arms and crouches down just so he can peer at Cass's flushed face. "Your sister's fine. Aren't you, Cass?"

Cass nods, face solemn.

Dick ruffles Cass's dark hair with his free hand, laughing when the little girl frowns and bats his hands away.

"Okay, okay," he says, still laughing. "I'm done. We can go get breakfast and get ready to leave."

Breakfast goes pretty much the same way that it does every morning. The only difference, is that Bruce is there too eating at the counter and reading a newspaper in between sips of coffee.  He's so casual, so comfortable. Dressed casually in a pair of khakis and a dark blue polo that makes his tan stand out, Bruce looks good dressed down.

Too good, perhaps.

Dick keeps glancing at his boss from out of the corner of his eye.

If this is what Bruce looks like every weekend when Dick is off, he's going to find more excuses to have breakfast in the kitchen on his days off.

When Bruce wears a suit, he's untouchable. With his hair slicked back and his cell phone practically glued to his ear, he looks like what Dick expected from him from the start. He looks like one of those wealthy parents that barely have time for anything other than work. But dressed down enough that Dick can clearly see every single flex that the other man's massive shoulders make when he moves?

He looks good enough to eat.

More than that, however, Bruce looks like someone that Dick would ask out in a heartbeat.

Cass eats quickly and quietly, finishing her cereal before everyone else at the kitchen counter and then going for one of her handheld video game consoles.

"You're going to have to leave that at home today, Cass," Dick says, smiling to take the sting out of separating Cass from one of her favorite methods of entertainment. "You can play with it until we leave, but we're going out today and you're not going to want to miss it."

"But I don't want to leave it," Cass says, voice sharp. She narrows her eyes at Dick, frowning mildly at him until he starts to get the feeling that she actually expects him to backpedal and say she can take it with them.

Instead, Dick shakes his head, pausing from his attempts at keeping Damian from simply diving face-first into his bowl of porridge so that he can level a stern look at his other charge.

"No can do, pumpkin," Dick says firmly. "We're going out to have fun with your dad. You can't do that with your nose in a video game."

Cass shoots Dick a surprisingly sullen look. "But--"

"Dick said no," Bruce says after a light touch to Cass's shoulder gains him his daughter's attention. "I know you want to play with your game, but we have a surprise for you. You won't enjoy it if you take your game to play the whole time." Bruce smiles, wide and gentle, and rests the palm of one huge hand atop Cass's head. "Don't worry, you'll have fun."

"But what if I don't?" Cass whines.

Bruce shares a meaningful glance with Dick from across the polished countertop.  "Should I tell her?"

"Tell me what? Tell me what?" Cass's previous ire turns to curiosity and she bounces in her chair, dark eyes huge and wide as she glances back and forth between her nanny and her father. "What's the surprise?"

Dick chuckles at Cass's sudden eagerness and smiles at Bruce. "Go ahead."

Dick sort of tunes out for the rest of Bruce and Cass's exchange, only laughing a little when he hears Cass cry out with excitement and clap her hands together.

"We're going to the zoo?" Cass asks, following her first question with several more in quick succession. "Can I touch everything? Can I touch _anything_? What are we going to _do_?"

Dick doesn't pay attention to Bruce's answers, only half listening to the low rumble of Bruce's deep voice as he answers any and all questions that his young daughter comes up with.

He refocuses the majority of his attention on Damian, fingers darting out to snatch the baby's bib up between two fingers and use it to wipe away a glob of porridge that threatens to drop down from his chin. With his bowl almost completely empty and his tummy full, Damian leans back against the back of his high chair, fingers clenching and uncurling against the bib as he tries to tug it off. When his attempts fail, Damian looks up at Dick with his mouth pushed out in a frown as little wrinkles tighten up the smooth brown skin between the dark smudges of his eyebrows.

"Off?" Damian asks, tugging hard at the bib. "Pwease?"

The lisp is what gets Dick. Even if he hadn't been ready to get Damian out of his chair and wiped down with a damp cloth, the combination of that lisp and Damian's big blue eyes never fails to get Dick to do what his charge wants. It's not the mark of a good nanny, but Dick has always been a sucker for a cute baby.

"Fine," Dick croons, reaching out to tap both of his index fingers against Damian's puffy cheeks. "The bib can come off. But you need to drink your juice first. Got it, little dude?"

Damian bobs his head in an eager, wobbly nod and then stretches out his short arms in order to get his hands around the handles of the pink and purple Sippy cup full of watered down orange juice that Dick offers him. He empties the cup in mere moments, throat working as he gulps down the juice like he's dying of thirst, and then beams and burps in quick succession.

"Good boy!"

 Dick can't resist the urge to dig the tips of his fingers in against Damian's sides, tickling him gently as he wiggles and squeals as loudly as possible. He undoes Damian's bib and then makes short work of cleaning Damian's round face with a soft and damp washcloth, only dragging it out for a moment so he can squeeze Damian's cheeks between his thumb and forefinger.

"And you're not covered in your breakfast today. Yay!"

Damian flings his hands into the air and echoes Dick at the top of his lungs. "Yay!"

From Bruce's side of the table, Dick swears he hears a quiet chuckle coming other man, but he pushes the thought aside in an instant. There's no way that Bruce would find this funny. Nope. No way.

"Are you ready to head out?" Bruce asks once Dick has finished with Damian and made his way through a quick breakfast of hot cereal and sweet, milky coffee. "I believe Miss Brown already has one of the cars in front of the house."

Dick taps the tip of his index finger against his bottom lip as he pauses to think.

"Yeah," he murmurs, "But I need to get the picnic basket out of the walk-in fridge before we leave."

"Oh, I can do that," Bruce says with another one of those movie star smiles. "Is there anything else you need? Water? Juice?"

"Nah," Dick says, smiling back helplessly. "The cook hooked us up. She's got stuff in there I didn't even think we'd need for lunch outside. You won't have to carry it all day either. It can stay in the car until we're ready for it."

As Bruce heads toward the walk-in with Cass following behind him, Dick unhooks Damian from the high chair and settles him on his hip.

"Are you ready to go to the zoo, Damian?" Dick asks, smiling when Damian's spit-sticky fingers inevitably find their way into his hair.

Damian burbles a stream of juice-scented baby babble, beaming widely enough that his handful of tiny teeth are visible.

Dick laughs and ruffles Damian's soft black hair before snatching up Damian's diaper bag with the hand not holding onto a heavy baby.

"I'll take that as a yes. Come on, let's go wait for Tim."


	5. Chapter 5

Doing anything with a bunch of kids always starts out the same.

Someone always needs to pee. Someone always forgets something. And someone, not naming any names, always ends up throwing a tantrum if he's not given a toy to play with while sitting in his car seat.

But they make it to the zoo in one piece. More or less.

Despite the fact that it's technically his day off, Dick takes charge before Bruce even has time to do more than unstrap Damian from  his car seat in the back of the limo and pull him out of the car.

"Could you get the stroller from the trunk please?" Dick asks, easily taking Damian from Bruce and holding him close. "I know he has the harness, but he's still not the best walker, you know?"

Once Bruce goes to fetch Damian's stroller, Dick turns to his other two charges.

"Have you been to the zoo before, Tim?" Dick asks, smiling at Cass's best friend.

From the time that Tim Drake, a nine year old a good head shorter than Cass with squinty blue eyes, got out of his parents' car that morning, he immediately reminded Dick of his time with Jamie Sawyer. The kid is quiet; preferring to stare out the window at the limo weaves its way through the dense traffic of downtown Gotham. Even now, now that they're out of the car, the only thing that Tim does is frown slightly, fingers sliding over the old school camera dangling from a thick lanyard looped around his neck.

Cass is quiet too, but Dick is used to that.

He's used to her going from moments where she's a little ball of chatter to a silence so still that it's like interacting with a statue until something happens to make her smile wide and infuse her little body with life. With Tim standing beside her and seemingly doing his best to pretend that he's very much not there or perhaps invisible, Dick isn't actually expecting much. Quiet kids aren't bad kids, and he offers Tim a smile when the little boy glances up at him, catching his gaze just before he tears his gaze away.

Bruce comes around the side of the limousine with Ayana trailing behind him with a small tote bag slung around her shoulder.

"You're coming in with us?" Dick asks Ayana when she comes close enough to chuck Damian under the chin and make him giggle.

Ayana grins.

"Of course. Who'd pass up the chance to go to the zoo on their boss's dime?" She glances back at Bruce and then waggles her fingers at him. "And he knows I'm holding on to the snacks so I'm making myself useful enough." She smiles, bright and sweet, as Dick chuckles softly, rolling his eyes at the woman in front of him. "Why do you think I volunteered to do this?"

"Because you had nothing else to do on a Saturday?"

Dick drops down into a smooth crouch in front of Damian's car seat, buckling him in and settling him down with a stuffed toy from the baby bag the moment that Damian's bottom lip starts to push out with a pout that belies his intention to scream and scream in the next few seconds.

Ayana snorts, and Dick doesn't have to see her to imagine her nostrils flaring. "Of course I do. I'm a grad student, _hello_."

"So you're skipping out on homework so you can go play at the zoo?" Dick shakes his head, sighing softly. "Wow. That's just... Wow."

"Oh, hush," Ayana drawls, dark eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiles up at Dick. The banter between them feels smooth and easy, the way it does when he and Alysia get going. Aside from his infrequent moments of ogling Bruce and the joy of spending time with the kids, working with Ayana in any capacity is a definite high point of working at the manor.

From behind them, Dick hears the all too impatient sound of Bruce clearing his throat and he remembers a little belatedly, that he's technically on the clock right now. "If you two are done..."

Dick snaps to attention, standing up so fast that he nearly topples over. He gives Bruce a jaunty little salute and then curls his fingers around the handle of Damian's stroller.

"We're all set over here. You cool with holding on to Tim and Cass for now?"

The two kids in question break apart from their huddle when Bruce comes close, Cass rushing forward to hold hands with her dad while Tim hangs back, an unsure look on his face. Cass beckons Tim over, letting go of Bruce's hand so that she can dart over to Tim's side and then start tugging him over to where Bruce is standing with a faintly worried frown on his face.

"C'mon, Tim," Cass says, a small smile curving up her lips. "We can go feed the goats and look at stuff. Come on."

Dick hides a smile behind his hand as Cass, still holding fast to Tim's smaller hand, grabs onto Bruce's hand with her free one and gives him an expectant look. The jut of her little chin and the way that her dark eyebrows draw together speak just as loudly as words would.

Very plainly, Cass's face seems to say, "Well, we can go now."

"I get the point," Bruce says a moment later, eyes warm and filled with fondness. He glances back at where Ayana stands just off to the side of the group fiddling with her phone and then calls her. He has to say her name twice before she looks up at him, eyes huge and luminous behind her tinted glasses. "If you want to look around on your own, you can. You don't need to follow us around all day if you don't want to."

Ayana nods. "Cool. I'll stick around for a little bit, though. Watching little kids flip out at the zoo is always fun."

Bruce doesn't bother with an answer, rolling his eyes at his employee before heading towards the entrance of the zoo without another look back, rightfully expecting everyone to just fall in line behind him.

And of course they do.

Dick has the man's baby and Ayana, grinning the whole time that they're walking together, seems intent on whispering ridiculous things in Dick's general direction and she can't do that if she's all the way behind him.

"This is going to be fun," Dick mutters, mostly on his way to meaning it.

*

The last time Dick was at a zoo, he was twelve.

Twelve and part of a live stage show with his parents and the animal trainer at Haly's Circus. So as far as Dick remembers, zoos aren't very fun. Somehow, despite years of working as both a temporary and long-term nanny, Dick hasn't set foot in a zoo since that week of performances the summer after he turned twelve.

But he has to admit, the novelty of going to the zoo with three kids -- two of whom have never been to one before -- is pretty neat. Especially with how, despite the fact that the summer is prime zoo time for children, the zoo is hardly crowded.

Damian starts out in his stroller with the top folded back so that whenever Dick glances down, he sees Damian's little head bobbing along. The little guy loves the zoo. Loves it. Everything is so new to him, so fresh that Damian doesn't stop babbling and gesturing for a good fifteen minutes into their walk through the zoo.

The fun really begins when they reach a small safari-themed playground set just off to the side of the main path.

Damian squeals, opening his mouth and letting out such a loud, high-pitched noise that several of the people around them jump and flinch before looking around and seeing Damian struggling against the straps of his stroller.

"Um, Bruce," Dick calls out to his boss. "I think Damian wants to stop and go p-l-a-y."

Not that spelling the word out does Dick much good, thanks to Tim.

Tim mouths the letters before saying the word out loud with a mild frown on his face.

"Play?" Tim asks with his face all scrunched up. "Why can't we go play?"

 _That_ gets Damian's attention.

"Play?" Damian repeats, his eyes gone wide. "Wan' play!"

He starts struggling against the stroller straps in earnest, jerking hard enough that he actually manages to move the stroller forward several inches before Dick tightens his grip on the handle and hauls the stroller back.

Bruce glances at Dick and shrugs as if to say, "What can you do?" before leading the way into the small play area. He holds the gate open and then smiles slightly when their gazes lock as Dick walks past him, falling behind the rest of their little group as the kids and Ayana rush forward.

"Oof--"

The front wheels of Damian's stroller catch on a raised section of pavement and Dick barely has time to realize that before he's stopped and one of Bruce's hands comes down to rest against the small of his back to keep him from stumbling. They're close enough that Dick can feel the heat of Bruce's hand and the pressure of his strong fingers (light as it may be) through the thin cotton of his second favorite Great Frog t-shirt, and when Dick breathes in, he can smell Bruce's cologne.

Bruce pulls back after a moment, clearing his throat when his eyes meet Dick's own. In that moment, something like lightning arcs between them. Dick can feel it, whatever _it_ is, and he knows that Bruce can too.

"Are you alright?"

Dick nods quickly.

"Yeah," he mutters, turning back to Damian's stroller. "It's just a little stuck. I've got it."

It doesn't take much to fix things, and Dick gets Damian's stroller into the little play area with no further incident aside from Damian ripping the hat off of his head and throwing it to the ground when Dick gets the stroller settled cattycorner to the play area's main set up of slides and climbing equipment.

"Hey," Dick blurts out, tilting his head to the side to avoid getting hit with Damian's hat. He frowns then, pointing at Damian with one finger inches away from the tip of his little nose. "Don't do that. We don't throw things, Damian. That's rude."

Damian doesn't seem to care. He grabs for Dick's finger, frowning harder when Dick easily avoids his attempts, and then huffs.

"Play?" Damian asks, big blue eyes wide as he glances over at where Cass and Tim are already playing on the slides under Bruce's watchful eye.

Dick shakes his head, fighting the urge to smile at Damian's frustration. "Not yet, Damian."

"No play," Damian says, eyes glossing over with a gloss of tears. He wiggles, pulling hard against the straps of his stroller as his little fingers flex and uncurl, and scowls hard. "Why?"

"Because, Damian, you're in a bit of a mood," Dick says patiently, fingers going to unbuckle the straps holding Damian inside of his stroller. He hefts Damian out and settles him in his lap in one smooth movement, holding him fast when Damian tries to fling himself away. "So you're going to hang out with me until I think you've calmed down. Understand?"

Predictably, Damian tries to hit him.

"No!"

Dick doesn't flinch at the impact of that chubby little fist against his chin and he grabs at Damian's hand, holding it firmly, but gently within one hand.

"I know you're new at this, Damian," Dick says softly, keeping in mind that Bruce is right there and is probably watching everything and judging how Dick disciplines his kids. "But we don't hit people when we want something. We use our words. Since you can't do that, you're in time out for five minutes."

To a baby, that doesn't mean much. What Damian gets though, is that he's in trouble and that he's not going to get to play. His face crumples, tears spilling down onto his cheeks as he opens his mouth and wails like an air raid siren.

"Wan' play," Damian breathes, his voice soft and shuddery as he wipes his face with the backs of his little hands.

"I know, Damian. I know."

It's hard, looking at Damian's sad, squished up face and remaining firm in his decision to keep the kid in time out, but Dick has to do it. He settles Damian in his lap and rubs at that heaving back, trying to ignore the way that Bruce's gaze feels heavy like a physical weight against his skin.

Those five minutes feel like a century.

This isn't Dick's first time putting Damian in time out, but this is the first time he's done so with Bruce watching.

Dick's interactions with Damian feel so much different with Bruce standing there and watching, even though he isn't staring at them. Dick feels his hands shake and he kind of clutches Damian closer, rubbing his back as the sobs die down to quiet sniffles that are just as heartbreaking.

"Shh, shh," Dick croons at Damian, trying to ease him down from his sadness. "It's okay. You're okay, little guy. Time out's done. You can go play now, okay? Don't cry."

It all comes out in a rush, Dick practically tripping over the words as he looks into Damian's sad face. The aftermath of time out is always the worst, when Damian is still sad and unsure and all Dick wants is to grab him up and tickle him or dance with him or do something to get him smiling again.

Damian's bottom lip quivers. "Play?"

"Yeah, Damian," Dick says, smiling. "You can go play." He lets Damian go the second that his little feet touch the ground, watching with a smile as Damian takes off in the direction of his father.

Bruce catches him easily, swinging Damian up into his arms and pressing a kiss to his son's cheek. He smiles, wide and happy, when Damian starts to babble at him and pat his face with one hand.

It's cute.

Dick settles back against the bench and tilts his head back, staring up at the mostly clear Gotham sky overhead. It's nice for Gotham, weirdly nice, but Dick only gets a few seconds to admire it before a hand passes over his field of vision and Ayana's face pops up in front of his.

"Wha --"

Ayana waves a wrapped candy bar in front of Dick's face. "Snack time?"

"Didn't we just eat breakfast?" Dick asks, but he takes the candy anyway. He's not going to turn down free dark chocolate. "So, are you bored yet?"

Ayana shrugs. "I'll tell you when I figure it out."

They sit in relative silence for several minutes, watching as Bruce lets the kids climb all over him as they play. It's... nice.

So of course, Ayana opens her mouth and ruins it.

"The boss man sure looks good with kids, doesn't he?" Ayana asks, eyes slanting towards Dick with a crooked smile on her face. She stretches, the back of one dark hand smacking against Dick's shoulder, and grins when Dick gives her an utterly unamused look. "What? I saw how you were lookin' at him."

Dick huffs. "I wasn't looking at him--"

Ayana cuts Dick off with an imperious wave of one hand. "Sure, I mean... It's not like I saw how you two were looking at each other by the gate."

"Shut up," Dick hisses, feeling his face heat up. "There wasn't any 'looking' going on. No way." He doesn't need this sort of teasing from this angle too, not with what he has to put up with from Alysia and Barbara already. "He's my boss, and --" Dick pauses to steel himself about the hurt feeling that he knows is set to come with his next words. "He wasn't looking at me."

Dick doesn't let his thoughts linger on everything he knows that makes those words a lie. He knows what he saw, what he felt. Bruce's hand on his back, the look on his eyes? There was something there. Something that Dick can't define.

But he's not admitting that to anyone.

"That didn't stop the last two nannies we had from making a pass on him," Ayana points out. "And hey, he's number one on Gotham's list of eligible bachelors. Most people want to do a lot more than looking once they realize he comes with billions and a built in family."

Dick rolls his eyes.

"I'm not listening to this," he says, glancing at where Bruce has Damian sitting on his shoulders with small fingers pulling at his hair. "Oh my god! I'm so not listening to this. Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Ayana laughs.

"Nah," she drawls, "Getting you all hot and bothered is the most fun I've had in ages. Besides, Dick, the boss man likes you. You could run with it if you wanted, I don't think he'd say no."

"And you know him so well, huh?" Dick tries to deflect Ayana's relentless attention.

Shrugging, Ayana's smile takes on a sheepish note.

"I may have... eavesdropped a little bit." When Dick raises one eyebrow, she laughs a little nervously and says, "What? It's our job to know what the boss man wants before he knows he wants it."

Dick shakes his head, still smiling.

"Let me guess," he says, "You're a journalism major aren't you. I can tell." He gestures at her with the still wrapped candy bar, pulling back too slowly to keep from losing his candy when she makes a grab for it. "My friend did an internship with the Daily Planet when she was in college and she said that everyone made it their business to find out someone else's business."

Ayana dips her head in a brief nod.

"Got it in one," Ayana drawls, back to smiling at Dick as though she's expecting him to do a new trick or something. "I did my undergrad in Metropolis, but I knew I'd come back here to do my masters in communications." She shifts on the bench beside Dick, pulling her legs underneath her body and moving around until she gets comfortable. "And the boss man pays for it all, you know."

"He does?"

Well that's news to Dick, but it's not that surprising. Bruce seems like the type to want everyone that works for him to do better.

Ayana eyes him. "Thinking about going back to school?"

Dick barks out a burst of laughter loud enough to turn Bruce's head.

"Oh god no," he breathes with a grin flitting at the corners of his mouth. "One degree's enough for me. Nothing on earth could get me to go back to school. I'm good."

Before Ayana can draw him back into conversation, Cass runs up to him.

"Dick! Dick," Cass calls, small fingers curling into Dick's palm. "Can you come push me on the swing?" She tugs at Dick's arm, putting all of her strength into it until Dick laughs and goes with the motion of it. The moment that Dick is steady on his feet, he swings Cass up into his arms and starts moving towards the swing set on the far end of the little playground.

"Just you?" Dick asks, gaze flitting over to where Bruce is playing with Tim and Damian on a zebra striped set of monkey bars. "You don't want to play with Tim?"

Cass shakes her head, but offers no further explanation.

"You're ridiculous," Dick says with a roll of his eyes. He plops Cass in the swing set, waiting for her to curl her fingers around the chains dangling from the heavy-duty metal frame overhead before he even thinks about pushing her. When Cass wiggles impatiently, Dick laughs and starts to pull her back all the way.

Cass wants to go high.  She squeals when he lets go, legs pumping out in front of her as she clutches tight to the chain. There's joy in her voice, pure and high and sweet. Cass's happiness is as close to touchable as an emotion can get, and when Dick catches the swing, she turns her face up at him.

"Again! Again!"

"Like I'd stop now, pumpkin," Dick says, already moving so that he can pull Cass back and let her go amidst another set of happy cries. He steps aside, moving out the way before the swing can catch him in the arm and heads over to where Bruce is standing by the monkey bars with Damian settled on his hip. "Call me when you're ready to come down. And don't even think about jumping. If you do, you'll be grounded for a month at least."

Dick's stern warning does nothing to keep a smile off of Cass's face. She smiles back at him and manages a brief thumbs-up before returning to her intense swinging.

"Dick!" Damian starts reaching for Dick the second that he gets within arm's reach of Bruce, fingers grasping as though he wants to grab hold of Dick more than anything.

Bruce smiles and brushes his knuckles over Damian's back. "Are you that eager to get rid of me, Damian?"

Damian grunts at his father, the dark smudges of his eyebrows drawing together as he pouts. "Pwease?"

"I know when I'm not wanted," Bruce says with a soft smile at Dick.

When he hands Damian over, their fingers brush and that same sparking feeling of electricity rears its head the way it had when their eyes had met. This time, however, Dick doesn't look away. He smiles instead, inwardly praying that it's one of his nice, normal smiles and not the kind of smile that he uses when he wants a date.

"He's a handful, isn't he?" Dick says, smiling as Damian's questing fingers zero in on the lone remainder of Dick's youthful rebellion, an earring with a tiny chip of sapphire set in the silver stud. Damian's nails pinch at Dick's earlobe and when he feels those same nails scratching against the earring, he shifts Damian in his arms so that there's no way that he can grab for the earring.

When Damian whines and tries to grab at his earring again, Dick shushes him almost absently and pats his back. Bouncing Damian in his arms, Dick offers Bruce a smile. "Remind me to cut his nails when we get home."

Home.

Dick doesn't know when he started to think of the manor as home, but this is certainly the first time he's said anything to that effect out loud. Warmth fills Dick's chest, makes him duck his head to press his cheek against the top of Damian's head and inhale the faint powdered milk smell that hangs around his skin.

_Home._

Yeah, Dick likes the way that sounds. He squeezes Damian a little tighter, patting Damian's back when the baby grunts and utters a plaintive noise in his ear.

Bruce touches his arm, the brush of his fingers gentle.

"Damian might like to go on the swings," Bruce says, speaking just loudly enough that Dick can hear him without straining. His dark eyes appear intent as he looks at Dick. "And then maybe we could see if the petting zoo is open. If you want --"

"I do," Dick blurts out. The second that the words leave his mouth, he hears Ayana cackling from behind them. "I mean -- They'd like that." He switches arms absently, only remembering Damian's preoccupation with his earring when Damian's sharp fingernails dig into his earlobe. "Ow -- _Hey_!"

Damian giggles and claps his hands over his face, peeking at Dick through his fingers.

"You're not sorry aren't you," Dick mutters, lips twitching into a small smile despite the pain radiating from his ear. "Come on, buddy. Let's get you on the swing before you take my ear off." He hefts Damian up further, jostling him just enough that a frightened squeak pushes out of Damian's pinched little mouth and his fingers fist in Dick's hair -- hair's that's just long enough for Damian to get a good, _hard_ grip on it.

Dick blows out a pained breath of air as tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

Bruce pushes forward, stepping into Dick's space as he tries his best to undo the tight grip that Damian has on his dark hair. Bruce is gentle, taking his time unwinding Damian's fingers from where Damian has Dick's hair wound tightly around them. He's more patient than Dick was expecting. He's closer too, body close enough that Bruce's ridiculously present body heat is a thing that Dick can't ignore.

"There," Bruce says after a minute. "All done."

Dick almost doesn't stop himself from making a soft, _bereft_ noise when Bruce steps back until he's no longer in his space. He offers Bruce another smile instead, tilting his head to the side so that most of his hair is out of Damian's reach.

"Thanks," he says, quietly.

Bruce nods, thin lips shaping up into a quick smile. He squeezes Dick's shoulder in a firm, but friendly grip. "No problem."


End file.
